When the company tells your manager "we need to cut wood" and you tell your manager "I need to sharpen my axe", these things are in harmony but it's still a balancing act. The manager should trust your judgement, but they may also have a better view of the short-vs-long-term tradeoffs, and sometimes we spend too much time sharpening. Sometimes we don't spend enough.

I think a good manager should be able to take a swing with the axe to get a feel for its sharpness.